TNS less connection in Oracle.

I have tested this connection method in Oracle 8i, 9i, 10g and in 11g and it works fine.

D:\>sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.5.0 - Production on Thu Jan 24 16:59:44 2008

Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> conn scott/tiger@(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(Host=ntwssrv)(Port=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SID=ORCL)))
Connected.
SQL>

If you think about above connection, it is more like specifying complete address in the connect string as you have in the tnsnames.ora file.

For 10g and 11g you can use following method as well. This method does not work for 8i or 9i databases.

==========
D:\>sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 10.1.0.5.0 - Production on Thu Jan 24 17:09:47 2008

Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> conn scott/tiger@ntwssrv:1521/aries
Connected.

===========
[oracle@oracle11gr1 oracle]$ sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.6.0 - Production on Thu Jan 24 17:27:40 2008

Copyright (c) 1982, 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

SQL> conn scott/tiger@oracle11gr1:1521/orcl
Connected.
SQL>